GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A real estate developer is planning to re-develop the former Cherry Street Health Services office and a former Project Rehab building in the East Hills neighborhood into market rate apartments.

Shayne Malone of Malone Management purchased the two buildings earlier this year and is seeking 10-year property tax abatements on improvements he plans to make to the properties, according to city Economic Development Director Kara Wood.

Redevelopment would return both buildings to the city tax rolls, Wood said. She estimated each project would generate $888 a year in new property taxes after the abatements. Building residents also would generate an estimated $4,000 a year in income taxes.

The former Project Rehab building at 222 Eastern Avenue SE would be converted into 11 2-bedroom apartments and one 1-bedroom apartment, according to a memo Wood prepared for a City Commission meeting on Tuesday, July 9.

Built in 1915 as a dwelling for streetcar operators, the 3-story building is vacant. It was purchased by Malone’s Cherry Street Apartments LLC for $175,000 last month. He plans to spend about $406,000 on the renovation, according to Wood’s memo.

Malone also plans to re-develop a 55-year-old two story office building at 822 Cherry Street SE he purchased for $310,000 last month. The building, which once housed a methadone clinic, is vacant, too.

Plans call for six residential apartments and about 2,000 square feet of office space, according to Woods. Malone plans to spend $454,000 on the renovation.

Malone was not available for comment Friday, July 5. According to his company’s website, he currently owns and operates 17 apartments that provide housing to local college students.